[Hoot Gibson]

I attended both the Paintsville Independent school district and the JC school district, as did all three of my children. You can get an excellent education in either school system and neither school system has a monopoly on good teachers. JC may have the top two academic team coaches in the state and they have a greater raw number of outstanding students because of their large enrollment. Those are the reasons that JC has won more state middle school academic championships than any other school in the state and it is why JCHS is able to compete with schools like Dupont Manual and Paul L. Dunbar on the high school level.

Paintsville's high average scores on standardized tests is the result of the town's demographics. Parents of PHS students are very likely to be college graduates and many of them are doctors, lawyers, etc. Parents' attitude toward education is by far the biggest factor in the academic achievements of their children.

Paintsville has always excelled in academics, so this is a great big non-factor in the decline of its football program. Paintsville's small enrollment is a factor but Fairview's enrollment is similar to Paintsville's and Fairview's football program has eclipsed Paintsville's in recent years.